Studying

Teaching is delivered through a variety of methods such as lectures, course-specific seminars and small group sessions. You will also participate in self-directed study and wider reading, as well as individual and group practical sessions.

St George’s is the only university in the country to give you the opportunity to undertake a nine month research project in this topic. This will give you time to immerse yourself in detailed research, generating high quality data that could be impactful enough for publication. It’s incredibly valuable work and has led to many exciting discoveries and important breakthroughs.

You will have the freedom to choose from a wide-ranging list of projects, and to work in a vibrant research environment with world-renowned researchers. You will also work with their research teams, PhD students and post-doctoral scientists to gain insight and experience over the course of your project.

At St George’s, you will benefit from working as part of a small, close-knit team. Students, clinicians and researchers work happily and effectively together. St George’s is more a small community than a large anonymous institution, with all the advantages that brings for personal input and development.

Teaching and learning methods

During the first term you will meet potential supervisors to familiarise yourself with the research activity within each pathway and to identify an appropriate project. Broadly speaking, your topic should be within the fields of biomedical sciences, healthcare, or health services and use appropriate scientific methods.

The self-directed component of your course includes the in-depth study of an area of interest, developing research and presentation skills, and gaining insight into possible careers.

Teaching for core modules is concentrated in the autumn term. Teaching for specialist modules takes place over the year. Throughout this time you will either be attending lectures or laboratory sessions on most days of the week. Students choose their projects and start with laboratory work from mid-October and complete their research by September.

Dissertation projects will involve the assembly, analysis and interpretation of data. Project titles and areas for research will be identified by module leaders and will relate to the pathway selected by the student.

(These modules are not available to be studied separately from the MRes.)

Assessment methods

Assessments are designed to help students with preparation for their dissertation. They help you review published work critically, use appropriate experimental design, and analyse experimental data. They also enable you to develop scientific writing and presentation skills.

All modules are assessed through written assignments or an oral presentation, with the exception of the statistics module which is assessed via examination. The optional modules require the submission of written reports. Following the research project, you will be asked to present a poster on your research.